We’ve all heard the old adage “Home is where the heart is”. But I think if the Apostle Paul was
here with us today, he would probably rearrange the words like this: “Heart is where the home is”
That is the essence of the passage. This is one of my favorite prayers in the bible:
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Ephesians 3:14-17a (NIV)
There is some introductory information about this passage that I want to share with you and then I want to focus on the concept of Christ dwelling in our hearts this week.
You’ll remember that Paul began chapter 3 with that very same phrase – “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.” Paul does as he often does and inserts this big parenthesis for the next 12 verses. In those verses he describes how God is carrying out His eternal purpose through the body of believers called the church. And now as we come to verse 14 Paul picks up with the thought that began back in verse 1; “For this Reason.”
Do you ever think about why we pray? We’ve spent a lot of time focusing on the sovereignty of God in the first three chapters of Ephesians. It is God who chooses us, God who predestines us to become part of his family, God who redeems us and God who guarantees that we will one day receive the inheritance of all the spiritual blessings that He has promised to us. So it only seems fair to ask, “If God is going to do what He wills anyway, why should I pray?”
I think Paul answers that question with his phrase “for this reason.” It’s interesting to see how the various commentators treat this phrase. Obviously, it refers back to what Paul has written previously in this letter, but what exactly is the reason for which he is praying?
Is it because he is imprisoned and he doesn’t want his readers to be discouraged?
That is the essence of the passage. This is one of my favorite prayers in the bible:
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Ephesians 3:14-17a (NIV)
There is some introductory information about this passage that I want to share with you and then I want to focus on the concept of Christ dwelling in our hearts this week.
You’ll remember that Paul began chapter 3 with that very same phrase – “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.” Paul does as he often does and inserts this big parenthesis for the next 12 verses. In those verses he describes how God is carrying out His eternal purpose through the body of believers called the church. And now as we come to verse 14 Paul picks up with the thought that began back in verse 1; “For this Reason.”
Do you ever think about why we pray? We’ve spent a lot of time focusing on the sovereignty of God in the first three chapters of Ephesians. It is God who chooses us, God who predestines us to become part of his family, God who redeems us and God who guarantees that we will one day receive the inheritance of all the spiritual blessings that He has promised to us. So it only seems fair to ask, “If God is going to do what He wills anyway, why should I pray?”
I think Paul answers that question with his phrase “for this reason.” It’s interesting to see how the various commentators treat this phrase. Obviously, it refers back to what Paul has written previously in this letter, but what exactly is the reason for which he is praying?
Is it because he is imprisoned and he doesn’t want his readers to be discouraged?
Is it because of his
interest in the welfare of his readers and his desire for them to enter fully
into their privileges in Christ?
Is it because of the
reconciling work of Jesus that has brought Jews and gentile together in the
church and because of Paul’s understanding of this mystery?
But it seems that the
immediate context has to do with the fact that God’s children have been
gathered together in the church for the purpose of making God’s manifold wisdom
evident here on earth and in the heavens.
So Paul is praying
because he is confident that God will do the things Paul is praying for in our
lives in order to prepare us to be fit vessels to carry out God’s sovereign
plan.
“Paul then writes that he bows his knees before the Father.” Paul is not indicating here that we have to bow our knees when we pray. In fact, throughout the Bible we find people praying in various different positions. But the idea of bowing our knees is a picture of submission, reverence and awe.
“Paul then writes that he bows his knees before the Father.” Paul is not indicating here that we have to bow our knees when we pray. In fact, throughout the Bible we find people praying in various different positions. But the idea of bowing our knees is a picture of submission, reverence and awe.
It pictures a subject coming before the king to bring a
request. The point Paul is making here is that when we come before God to pray,
we need to come with a right heart. We can come boldly, because our access is
based on what Jesus has done for us. But we also need to come with reverence
and awe.
Then Paul uses an interesting phrase to describe God. He calls him “the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” Frankly we could spend our whole time just looking at this phrase this morning, but let me just make a couple of quick observations.
Then Paul uses an interesting phrase to describe God. He calls him “the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” Frankly we could spend our whole time just looking at this phrase this morning, but let me just make a couple of quick observations.
First, there seems to
be a reference here to creation and the fact that all created beings owe their
existence to the Father. But because of the context here in Ephesians, Paul seems to be emphasizing the idea that
in the church, we all have the same Father. It doesn’t matter whether we
are Jew or Gentile, male or female, black or white, rich or poor. We are all
God’s children and God loves all his children equally. He doesn’t play
favorites. So when Paul prays, he is praying for all of God’s children,
including all of us who are followers of Jesus Christ.
Now turn your focus back on the first part of Paul’s prayer.
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
Paul’s desire is that Christ would dwell in the hearts of his readers. The word translated “dwell” is an interesting word. In Greek, it means to “settle down and be at home.”
When Amy and I decided to look for a house several years ago, we looked at dozens of houses before we finally settled on a floor plan and location that we liked. Once we decided to buy that house, we had to make a lot of decisions about things like paint colors and everything that goes with making your house yours. Since then we’ve also done a lot of other things to modify our house to make it fit our tastes and our lifestyle. We’ve landscaped the front and backyard, painted some walls, and we are in the process of taking down a kitchen wall to make this more open. We’ve done all that because our plan is to make that house our last home. We’ve finally come to the conclusion as we learned last week, “Age is relative - when you’re over the hill, you just pick up speed.” Obviously, God could change all that, but we look at that house as our permanent residence, so we have invested our resources to make it a place where we can settle down and be at home.
Now turn your focus back on the first part of Paul’s prayer.
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
Paul’s desire is that Christ would dwell in the hearts of his readers. The word translated “dwell” is an interesting word. In Greek, it means to “settle down and be at home.”
When Amy and I decided to look for a house several years ago, we looked at dozens of houses before we finally settled on a floor plan and location that we liked. Once we decided to buy that house, we had to make a lot of decisions about things like paint colors and everything that goes with making your house yours. Since then we’ve also done a lot of other things to modify our house to make it fit our tastes and our lifestyle. We’ve landscaped the front and backyard, painted some walls, and we are in the process of taking down a kitchen wall to make this more open. We’ve done all that because our plan is to make that house our last home. We’ve finally come to the conclusion as we learned last week, “Age is relative - when you’re over the hill, you just pick up speed.” Obviously, God could change all that, but we look at that house as our permanent residence, so we have invested our resources to make it a place where we can settle down and be at home.
Paul’s prayer for us is that we’d be able to do the same thing spiritually with our hearts that most of us do with our homes - to make it a place where Christ can take up permanent residence.
Let’s look at Paul’s prayer and see if we can’t pick out some practical principles this week that will help us to make sure that our heart is where God’s home is.
You are loved! I'll have to find a new picture...just noticed I was blinking...lol
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